Uncommon Valor: US Medal of Honor Winners Quiz

Answer: The US Civil War

The Medal of Honor was first proposed in 1861 by Senator James Grimes of Iowa, as an incentive for enlisted men in the U.S. Navy. George Washington had instituted the first medal for those serving in the armed forces during the Revolutionary War, called the Badge of Military Merit. It had fallen out of use by the time of the Civil War, and there were no official decorations to recognize acts of heroism.

Although first only authorized for Navy personnel, authority was soon extended to allow Army troops to receive the award. On March 3, 1863, Army officers became eligible (Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard officers were not allowed to receive the medal until 1915).

Answer: First person awarded the Medal of Honor

Private Jacob Parrott of the 33rd Ohio was the first person to actually receive the medal, although his actions happened later than many others who were eventually awarded it. Parrott was one of a group of Union soldiers who infiltrated enemy lines and captured a Confederate locomotive called "The General." He was captured and beaten in an attempt to make him reveal military secrets.

He was eventually freed in a prisoner exchange, and summoned to Washington to meet President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Parrott received his Medal of Honor on March 25, 1863.

He later attained the rank of of 1st Lieutenant. Parrott died in 1908 at the age of 65.

Answer: First woman awarded the Medal of Honor

Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) served as a nurse and an assistant surgeon during the Civil War. She also served as a spy for the Union army, was captured, and imprisoned. After the war, upon the recommendation of Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George H. Thomas, she was awarded the Medal of Honor on November 11, 1865.

She was the first woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor, and the only one to receive it during the first 150 years of its existence. In 1917, a special commission decided she was had not been eligible to receive the award, and struck her name from the list of recipients. Her Medal of Honor was restored by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, despite the fact that she was patently ineligible to receive it based on present criteria. This was one of the first of a distressing series of actions which have awarded the Medal of Honor to people for apparently political reasons, rather than merit. Although Walker was the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor, with women assuming a more active role in combat situations, it is likely that more women will receive it in the future.

Answer: Navy

From 1919 through 1942, the U.S. Navy issued two versions of the medal, one for bravery during combat, and another for exceptional valor during peacetime. The Navy did not officially retire the non-combat version of its Medal of Honor until 1963. For example, four Navy enlisted men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their efforts in savings the lives of the crew of the USS Squalus, a submarine which sank during a test dive in 1939.

Answer: Invalidated 911 Medal of Honor awards

Theodore Roosevelt was not awarded his Medal of Honor until 2001 - this was 103 years after his charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War. While Roosevelt was undoubtedly a brave man, it is unlikely his actions were worthy of the nation's highest award for valor.

African-Americans have always been eligible to receive the Medal of Honor; the first black recipient was Robert Blake, a escaped slave who served as a seaman onboard the USS Marblehead in 1864.

The reason the Army Medal of Honor Review Board decided to review the Army's Medal of Honor rolls was that a law had been passed allowing each person holding the medal to a special pension. It decided that 911 awards of the medal had been unjustified. The Board was not overly strict in applying its criteria. During the Civil War and the Indian Wars, the Medal of Honor had often been awarded for rather frivolous reasons, simply because it was the only authorized decoration. Of the 911 Medals of Honor revoked, 864 had been issued to members of the 27th Maine Infantry, a nine-month regiment that saw almost no combat. Every man in the regiment had been awarded the Medal of Honor for delaying his discharge until the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg; they did not take part in the battle, but remained around Washington, DC as part of its defenses. 29 Medals of Honor that had been issued to the honor guard at Abraham Lincoln's funeral were invalidated. Another Medal of Honor that was revoked had been issued to Lt. Colonel Asa Bird Gardiner, who had served in the 22nd National Guard Infantry, another regiment which saw little action. In 1872 he had written to Secretary of War William Belknap, saying "I understand there are a number of bronze medals for distribution to soldiers of the late War, and request I be allowed one as a souvenir of memorable times past."

The Board did make a few controversial decisions, however, revoking the medals awarded to Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to have been awarded the Medal of Honor, and also that of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Walker's Medal of Honor was reinstated in 1977, and Cody's in 1989.

Answer: They won the US Medal of Honor twice

A total of 19 men have won the Medal of Honor twice, but none since WWI. Five of the multiple Medal of Honor winners, including John J. Kelly, received both the Army and Navy versions of the medal for the same act of bravery. Four others received their Medals of Honor for separate acts of bravery performed during peacetime.

Answer: 13

William H. "Willie" Johnston was only 11 years old when he enlisted as a drummer boy in the 3rd Vermont Infantry during the Civil War. When the Union army was routed during the Seven Days Battles in June, 1862 many of the troops threw away their weapons and all their equipment during their disordered retreat. Johnston, however, held on to his drum and brought it safely to the rear. He was the only drummer boy to do so, and he caught the attention of his division commander, Brigadier General William F. "Baldy" Smith. Smith included a mention of Johnston's action in his report of the battle. Somehow the story came to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, recommending that the boy receive the newly created medal. Willie Johnston received the medal on September 16, 1863 when he was 13 years old, although he had been only 11 when he performed his famous deed.

The oldest recipient was a bit more famous than Willie Johnston. He was General Douglas MacArthur, who was 62 when he received his Medal of Honor.

Answer: Deliberately went down with his ship to avoid becoming a prisoner

In November, 1943 the U.S. was preparing to invade the Gilbert Islands, a move known as Operation Galvanic. The Navy had sent a task force of 12 submarines to the area intercept ships bringing supplies to Japanese troops defending the islands. One of these was the USS Sculpin (SS-191), under the command of Commander Fred Connaway. Onboard Sculpin was a passenger, Captain John P. Cromwell, who was in overall command of the task force. On November 19, 1943 Sculpin was attacked and heavily damaged by a Japanese destroyer; unable to maintain proper depth, she was forced to surface and fight an unequal gun battle with the destroyer, during which the captain and all other senior officers were killed. The surviving senior officer, Lt. George Brown, ordered the boat to be scuttled and issued the order to abandon ship. Despite urging, Captain Cromwell refused to leave the submarine. He had been thoroughly briefed on the details of the upcoming invasion of the Gilbert Islands, and also knew the details of the Navy's ULTRA program, which deciphered Japanese radio messages. Rather than risk revealing crucial information to the enemy under the influence of drugs or torture, Captain Cromwell chose to die instead; he remained onboard Sculpin and rode her down to the bottom of the sea.

42 of Sculpin's crew survived her sinking; one badly wounded survivor, who was picked up by the Japanese, was thrown back into the ocean to die. A few weeks later, 21 of the survivors were loaded onto the Japanese carrier Chuyo, to be taken to a prison camps in Japan. On December 31, 1943 Chuyo was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Sailfish (SS-192), killing all but one of the American POWs.

Answer: Sergeant Alvin C. York

Alvin C. York (1887-1964) was an unlikely hero. A member of the Church of Christ in Christian Union, York was initially a pacifist and attempted to avoid being drafted by registering as a conscientious objector. His petition was denied, and he was drafted into the United States Army, and was assigned to the 82nd Infantry Division. On October 8, 1918 York helped lead an attack against a German machine gun position. York killed several Germans, and he and the seven surviving members of his squad captured 132 prisoners. For this action, York was promoted from corporal to sergeant, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. This was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor; York also received decorations from several allied countries, including France's Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor.

York became a national hero when a story about his exploits appeared in the popular magazine, "The Saturday Evening Post." His reputation was further enhanced when a movie about his life, "Sergeant York," starring Gary Cooper, was made in 1941. It was the highest grossing motion picture of that year, and earned Cooper an Academy Award for Best Actor. York's home has been preserved, and is now part of the Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park in Pall Mall, Tennessee.

Answer: Lt. Audie Murphy

Audi Leon Murphy (1925-71) was born into a poor family of sharecroppers in Hunt County, Texas. His father deserted the family, and his mother died in 1941, causing authorities to place his younger siblings in an orphanage. After Pearl Harbor, Murphy tried to enlist, but was turned down by the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, for being underage and underweight; Murphy was only 5'5" (165 cm) tall, and weighed only 110 lbs. (50 kg). The following year, he lied about his age was accepted by the Army on June 30, 1942.

Murphy participated in the Allied invasion of Italy, and by 1943 had been promoted to sergeant; in 1944 he was promoted to staff sergeant and became a platoon leader; on October 14, 1944 he received a battlefield commission and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He would eventually be wounded three times, and would receive every decoration for valor offered by the United States Army, as well as numerous foreign decorations. He won the Medal of Honor for his actions on January 26, 1945, when his men were attacked by a strong force of Germans near Holtzwihr, France. After ordering his men take cover, Murphy jumped on a damaged tank destroyer, and used its machine guns to hold off the Germans for over an hour, killing or wounding an estimated 50 enemy soldiers.

After the war, Murphy became an actor, and between 1948 and 1969 appeared in over 40 motion pictures. His most famous role was playing himself in in the 1955 film, "To Hell and Back". Murphy died in a plane crash in 1971, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.